Citation Nr: 9828741
Decision Date: 09/25/98 Archive Date: 10/01/98
DOCKET NO. 98-06 191 ) DATE
)
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On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Louis,
Missouri
THE ISSUE
Entitlement to service connection for post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
REPRESENTATION
Appellant represented by: Missouri Veterans Commission
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
C. Trueba-Sessing, Associate Counsel
INTRODUCTION
The veteran served on active duty from February 1965 to
February 1968.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals
(Board) on appeal from a January 1998 decision by the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in
St. Louis, Missouri, which denied the veteran’s claim.
CONTENTIONS OF APPELLANT ON APPEAL
The veteran contends that he suffers from PTSD as a result of
combat experiences in Vietnam.
DECISION OF THE BOARD
The Board, in accordance with the provisions of 38 U.S.C.A.
§ 7104 (West 1991 & Supp. 1998), has reviewed and considered
all of the evidence and material of record in the veteran's
claims file. Based on its review of the relevant evidence in
this matter, and for the following reasons and bases, it is
the decision of the Board that
the record supports an allowance of the veteran’s claim.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The veteran engaged in combat with the enemy in Vietnam.
2. A clear diagnosis of PTSD has linked current
symptomatology to combat stressors.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
PTSD was incurred in service. 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1154,
5107 (West 1991); 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f)(1998).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
Service connection may be granted for disability resulting
from injury or disease incurred in or aggravated by service.
38 U.S.C.A. § 1110.
In each case where a veteran is seeking service connection
for any disability, due consideration shall be given to the
places, types and circumstances of his service as shown by
his service record, the official history of each organization
in which he served, his medical records, and all pertinent
medical and lay evidence. In considering claims of veterans
who engaged in combat during campaigns or expeditions,
satisfactory lay or other evidence of incurrence in such
combat of an injury or disease, if consistent with the
circumstances, conditions or hardships of such service will
be accepted as sufficient proof of service connection, even
when there is no official record of incurrence. 38 U.S.C.A.
§ 1154; 38 C.F.R. § 3.305(c) (1998).
In order to establish service connection for PTSD, there must
be a clear diagnosis of the condition, credible supporting
evidence that the claimed in-service stressor actually
occurred, and a link, established by medical evidence,
between current symptomatology and the claimed in-service
stressor. If the claimed stressor is related to combat,
service department evidence that the veteran engaged in
combat will be accepted, in the absence of evidence to the
contrary, as conclusive evidence of the claimed inservice
stressor. See 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f) (1998).
In the veteran’s case, his DD Form 214 shows that his
military occupational specialty was gunner-machine guns. His
DD Form 214 also indicates that his unit received the
President Unit Citation (PUC). According to a 1992
publication by the American Forces Information Service,
Department of Defense entitled Armed Forces Decorations and
Awards, the PUC is a combat unit award granted to units that
were involved in combat and which may be utilized in
determining, as part of the overall record, whether an
individual veteran was in combat. See generally AR 672-5-1,
dtd 1 October 1990; AR 600-8-22. The veteran’s service
records also demonstrate, in the combat history-expeditions
section, that he participated in combat operations against
Communist forces in defense of Da Nang, Republic of South
Vietnam, from August 1965 to August 1966.
The Board finds that the veteran’s service department
records, taken together, establish that he engaged in combat
with the enemy in Vietnam, and, consequently, other
supporting evidence that he experienced combat stressors is
not required. 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f).
At a VA psychiatric examination in July 1997, the examiner
rendered a clear diagnosis of PTSD and linked current PTSD
symptomatology to the veteran’s combat stressors. All of the
requirements for service connection for PTSD have thus been
met, and entitlement to that benefit is established.
38 U.S.C.A. §§ 1110, 1154; 38 C.F.R. § 3.304(f).
ORDER
Service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is
granted.
JAMES A. FROST
Acting Member, Board of Veterans' Appeals
NOTICE OF APPELLATE RIGHTS: Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7266 (West
1991 & Supp. 1998), a decision of the Board of Veterans'
Appeals granting less than the complete benefit, or benefits,
sought on appeal is appealable to the United States Court of
Veterans Appeals within 120 days from the date of mailing of
notice of the decision, provided that a Notice of
Disagreement concerning an issue which was before the Board
was filed with the agency of original jurisdiction on or
after November 18, 1988. Veterans' Judicial Review Act,
Pub. L. No. 100-687, § 402, 102 Stat. 4105, 4122 (1988). The
date which appears on the face of this decision constitutes
the date of mailing and the copy of this decision which you
have received is your notice of the action taken on your
appeal by the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
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